Whatever you have, put it to work for the glory of God

If you are white and you feel that because of that you are privileged, then put that privilege to work for the glory of God.

If you are white and you believe that gives you advantage, then put that advantage to work at once to produce a return for your Master.

If you are white and you think that gives opportunity, then put that opportunity to work so that you will be known not by the color of your skin but by your love.

If you are white and believe that gives you superiority, you are not seeking God and his kingdom and his righteousness.

If you are white and believe that gives you the high ground automatically, you have ignored Christ’s purpose and example to serve.

If you are white and believe you have exclusive rights, you have entered the realm of the sanctimonious and fully deserve the scorn you evoke.

But if you are white and repent because you are white, you mock God.

If you are white and want to divest yourself of the way God made you, you are running from God.

If you are white and have advantage because of it and do not use that advantage to produce a return for God, you are the one talent servant—wicked and lazy.

If you think that the color of your skin makes your racist, you have been brainwashed.

If you think that the color of your skin makes your right or wrong in a situation, you are a disciple of the devil.  The father of lies has indoctrinated you.

If you think that the color of your skin governs your future, you are deterministic and your thoughts don’t matter.  You believe external factors control everything.

But if you are a child of God, born by the Spirit, your new nature governs.

If you are born anew, the Spirit that lives within you governs.

If you are a disciple of our Lord, Jesus Christ, being known by your love governs.

We don’t see a hungry black man.  We feed a man because we can.

We don’t see a white woman jumped by three black teens.  We step in to stop the violence against the helpless.

We don’t see three persons of color but greet three children of God.

We don’t see a Hispanic woman working three jobs a day, we bless the struggling mother with what we can.

We don’t see a white police officer attacking a subdued black fugitive.  We see authority overstepping its bounds and demand that it stops even at risk to our own safety and standing.

We see the color of each other’s skin, but reveal the condition of our own heart.

You don’t return hate for hate.  Love must govern. 

Until we address the condition of the human heart with the love poured out on the cross, we are just adding window dressing to the depravity of humankind.

Until we take what God has given us—skin color, physical build, money, time, possessions, wisdom, vision, skills, abilities, spiritual gifts, and the gospel—and put them to work at once for our Master, we should not expect progress.

The devil delights when the followers of Christ are deceived by seeking forgiveness for the color of their skin instead of the condition of their heart.

If I seek fairness but don’t’ have love, I am but a heartless rule maker.

If I desire equality but don’t have love, I redistribute for the moment and create inequality for the future.

If I seek to eradicate racism but don’t have love, I become a casualty in a war in which I don’t know who wounded me or you.

The answer is love.  The answer has always been love.  The command is to love one another so much that love becomes our identity.

If anything takes you off your course to love one another, kick it to the curb no matter how appealing its allure or how compelling its motif.

The world and its master seek to divide you so that you will be easy prey for his wiles.  The Lord of all creation desires you to be in one accord in his love. 

Do not be deceived.  Know your Master’s voice. 

Love one another.

Posts, Tweets, and the Father of Lies

Most of the time when I see things online that are just so far from reason and righteousness, I let it go.  Confronting all of them would be putting my best efforts into things that have little impact.  It’s not always wise to engage.  Some people are not looking for truth.

I do love the discussions that fit into the iron sharpens iron category, but they are few.

Sometimes the deception is so subtle that believers jump on the bandwagon.  I stand in the gap more often in these cases than for the senseless melee of other posts, discussions, and hateful diatribes that only consume my time and resources.

I know that many feathers will be ruffled among those apologizing for being caucasian as if skin color were our choice and not God's, but this examination bears consideration.  I know that many will never make it to the end of this article as it asks us to examine what we endorse and approve and share.

Here is one case-in-point where so many have landed on the bandwagon and don’t know what they signed off on.

Let's examine the post.

“That white people.”  

Had the post started with “That black people” it would have been declared racist and rightly so.  Lumping black people into one group as if there were no individual lives to be considered within that group is not only racist, it is ignorant.

The same is true by casting all white people into a single group.  It’s racist.

So, three words into this post we have a racist premise and are off to a bad start.

Next, we see the words “think [that] the [Civil] Rights [Movement] was exclusively Rosa Parks sitting politely and [MLK Jr.] being ~peaceful~”  as part of what is presented as the premise.  Who among us thinks or believes this?

If we don’t think that the statement is true for us, how can we assign it to others?  Even if we do think the statement applicable to our own lives, who are we to impose our shortcomings upon the greater group?  Are all not entitled to their own thoughts and beliefs?  Anytime that we find ourselves assigning thoughts and beliefs to others, we have indulged ourselves in self-righteousness.  It can feel good in the moment but has no efficacy.

And for those who lived during this time, MLK Jr. was a peaceful presence and influence in a violent time.  Why was he killed?  He was effective, much more so than the violence that surrounded him.  He effectively put God’s words into practice.

Had he not been effective, he would not have been a target for those who opposed him.

And just as a pet peeve here, it’s Reverend Doctor.  MLK reduces a godly man and effective leader to something that fits on a street sign.

We might believe that some people think the way that the author portrayed in the tweet/post.  That’s our opinion.  When we make it a premise for an entire group of people, it’s clever deception.  I say clever because so many intelligent people buy-in to it in spite of its deception.  Too many get on the emotional bandwagon of the day and satisfy an emotional craving to do something so they like and share.

It is easier to presume and promulgate as fact, things that fit the desired narrative than it is to search for facts and truth and let the narrative develop in genuine fashion.

Here’s the kicker.  It resides in the next two words:  “is proof.”  When the premise is false, all that follows can be made to appear true. 

What is proven?  “that our educational system is rooted in white supremacy” according to the author.

Our educational system has faults.  Show me a man-made system that doesn't.  Some faults or defects can be traced to various roots but claiming that white supremacy must be the culprit based on the emotional wave of the week has no merit.  When the premise is false, one can claim that global warming is the culprit.

Our educational system, especially history, has been redacted and sanitized in so many ways.  Could there be a white supremacy element involved?  Quite possibly, either actively or passively or as the default setting.  It should be explored and investigated not given presumed veracity.

Were we to systemically inspect our educational system, we might find many elements that altered what was once presented in a fairly straight-forward manner.  History as taught in the educational system has always been edited to reflect many motivations, not all of them self-evident nor beneficial.

Here is what I note of our educational system from this post and its following.  We no longer teach thinking skills.  We are so vulnerable to red herrings and non-sequiturs that the Father of Lies is having a heyday with social media.  We are governed by our emotions so much more than the sound mind that God gave us.

Hate and guilt have been leveraged as never before and so many have turned off their sound minds.  Fear of contradicting the majority sentiment rules.

Let’s continue with the next words:  “Black history.”  Let’s say for the sake of argument that many white people are ignorant of the struggles of the 1960’s and that white supremacy is among the primary suspects in the short-comings of our educational system, why is it that only black history affected?  If the premise is valid, is not all history damaged?

What small minds we engage when we think that the thoughts and beliefs of one group only impact one other group. 

Had the premise not been false, the last sentence in this quip did have some meat to it for all of us.

Let’s consider the thoughts without the premise.   How often do we receive only that which we like and which fits into our comfort zone?  This has nothing to do with black or white but with our human nature.

We gravitate to the easy path.  We like that which fits our current paradigm.  Today, we like and share and can do it without having to engage our minds.  If it feels good, like and share.

Why pick on this post when many others are based more in emotion than intelligence and truth?  So, why this one? Because so many whom I know and love have succumbed to the editorial wiles of the Father of Lies and seem blissfully unaware of what they have endorsed.

Twice in my lifetime, I was accused of being tactful.  I was acquitted on both counts.  Now is not the time to sugar-coat anything.

That said, let’s see if we can find the sentiment that the author may have hoped to convey.  Perhaps:

Bias exists.

People (many white) don’t know much about the violence and civil rights struggles of years past. Many black people don’t either, but that’s not politically correct to note at this time when emotion must reign.  How can that be?  How could black people not know? Consider the ongoing effort to remove the Holocaust from our history books.  More than this, consider why we would presume that all black people know something because they are black.

Part of this is a failure of our educational system.

White supremacy still exists within some people and philosophies.

Racism still exists.

Defining groups (black and white seem to have the top rankings now) is part of what’s happening.

People want to show cause and effect even if it requires manipulation of the facts.

What I couldn’t find in this post was a legitimate purpose.  Its lack of merit leaves it by default designed to emotionally assign blame and promote hatred disguised as a counterfeit quip of wisdom.  It was designed to get likes and shares and infiltrate the minds of those who want to follow Jesus.  The Father of Lies must have put in some overtime.

There are times to assign blame.  If we must do this, then we should exercise the sound mind that God gave us and not succumb to the deception of the devil. 

I know emotions are running high.  People feel helpless and liking and sharing something proffered as truth is enticing and gratifying.  The problem is that jumping on these bandwagons is like eating candy for three meals a day.  It tastes good in the moment and might even give you a temporary high,  but it offers no real sustenance.

So what do you do with your out of control emotions and continuing dissonance?  Surely, we are called to action, aren’t we?

All of us who profess Jesus as Lord have been called to action for some time.  His command to love one another and be known by our love didn’t just pop up after a school shooting, terrorist attack, or very public murders.

Hate is at work in the world and we might feel helpless.  Why?  There is one word in this perverted tweet or post that hits the target:  comfort.

Christians have grown comfortable in our situations when we should have grown in faith and love demonstrated in our actions.  We got comfortable and things that we should have addressed for years with love and mercy and compassion got away from us, but we maintained our comfort zones.

Many are uncomfortable now from being comfortable for so long.

Ask this.  How much of my life is consumed by work, bills, television, internet, sports, entertainment, and so many distractions when we are called to put God first in our lives?

We already know how to work God in here and there if it’s convenient, but how do I put him first and live as his disciple and truly make a difference in the world.

How do I put him first?

I love God, mostly by talking with him daily and listening more than I talk and by doing what he tells me.  We must know his voice.

I love others, yes even when it’s not convenient or when they don’t love or like me.

I tithe.  What?  This is the only place in the Bible where God tells us to put his promises to the test so that he may provision his people (today that’s his church) to do the good works that he planned for us long ago.  OBTW, there are also direct blessings for us.

I trust.  I believe that God is real, he is love, he loves me, and he loves his creation so much that he took it upon himself to take away our sin in his own blood.  He has reconciled creation to himself.  I trust that he is still at the helm and has good plans for us.

I obey.  Wow!  There’s a whole bunch that God told us to do.  We are blessed that Jesus fulfilled the law and all prophecy about him.  He did what we could never do and in him is our obedience.  Jesus gave us a primary command, that we love one another.  Love fulfills the law. 

I fulfill my commission.  Jesus did not only send us into the world with good news and his love but also with his authority.  Why are we so quick to jump on the cause of the month when we have been charged with God-given purpose and endowed with God’s authority?

Instead of spending our time developing a taxonomy of sin and throwing our phariseutical flags because someone doesn’t hate one sin more than another, why don’t we live by love?  That’s what God told us to do.

You would think if we knew the voice of the Good Shepherd and responded to his commands, love might have picked up some momentum by now.  It seems that is not the case, but that is no reason for us to discount or discard his command to love in favor of pointing out specks in others’ eyes who don’t condemn with sufficient enthusiasm the things that we condemn.

It is a mark of cowardice not courage or compassion to gravitate to the words of the world when we haven’t really poured ourselves into the simple command of God—love one another.

Do not be deceived.

Do not be conformed to the patterns of the world any longer.

Love God.

Love one another.

Fulfill your commission.

Understand that God understands the efficacy that resides in his way.

Get off the emotional bandwagons and get on with living by the law of love.

Dear Dad

Dear Dad,

I want you to know how much I enjoy going to church.  Really, I don’t go to church.  I am a part of the church.  The church is that group of people who follow Jesus.  I learned that and like it.

I wanted to say thank you for letting me go.  I will probably go a few more years before I stop.  It’s not a thing that older people do.  It can’t be for real or you would go too, but it’s fun for now.

I believe in God and in Jesus and that he died to take away my sins, but that can’t mean too much or you would lead me to worship him.  It can’t be that important.

We make it to most of the ball games and town events and never miss a day of hunting season.  We go to the lake and never miss a game on the big screen.  If this worshiping God was important, we would do that too.  I trust you that it can’t be that important.  I trust you!

I know that your life is tough, and you are tired most of the time.  I guess that is what I will be soon, once I stop this Jesus stuff.  Really, what’s the point.  You have your reasons not to go.  I will just use your reasons in a few years.  I will be just like you.

I really enjoy the Christmas presents and other cool stuff that you get me, but all of that stuff just wears out over time.  They tell me that Jesus wants us to live forever with him.  I wish that were true, but I’m sticking with you and not buying this God loves me stuff.

I will keep going to worship and classes for now so you can have a break, but don’t worry.  One day I will be just like you and skip all of this God is love nonsense.  I know it can’t be true.  You tell me that you love me and these church folks tell me that God loves me.  I want to believe but I won’t betray you.  I will be just like you and start making my list of reasons not to give up my Sunday mornings to worship God.

If you don’t mind, I would like to keep going for a little while longer.  These people who are the church are always kind and loving to me.  The smile when they see me.  Most give me a hug.  They know what God says about just about everything.  They actually believe what God says.  It’s really cool stuff, but don’t worry, I won’t let you down.  I will stay away and be content in my reasons for not going soon enough.

I want to be just like you.

Love…

About that Jimmy Carter quote...

About once a quarter I see the picture of President Jimmy Carter circulating with a quote attributed to him abut using tax dollars to help the poor if we want to call ourselves a Christian nation.  It has a certain ring to it.  I respect the good works that President Carter has done since he left office.  His grace and service and a wonderful model, but there are a couple of problems with the quote.

First, Jimmy Carter didn’t say this.  It sounds like something that he would have said but he didn’t.  Next, the principle being put forth is from the world not from God.

Hold your holy horses, Tom; how can you say that.  It’s about helping the poor.  C’mon that’s got to be directly from God. 

God’s directions and the teachings of Jesus are given to us.  We are to speak the truth, love our neighbor, help the poor, and bring people into the family of faith so that they know abundance.   Abundant life is for all and the Lord’s directions are to his people.  The problem with this quote is that it delegates loving our neighbor to our government. 

When people are overlooked, we can blame the government.  When people abuse the system, we can blame the government.  We can wash our hands of this whole love your neighbor business and turn it over to the government. 

That sounds like a plan and it is.  It is just not God’s plan.  We have conformed to the patterns of the world long enough.  It’s time to get back to God’s way of helping the poor.

Do you realize that if every Christian tithed, yes tithe means 10% and you don’t have to tithe to receive your salvation, but if everyone Christian tithed, God’s storehouse would be full?  What does that mean?  The church could help the poor as it was designed to do.   

Government programs would be next to irrelevant and God’s people who tithed would be blessed beyond measure.  That’s God’s model.

If we want to be a Christian nation, we must first be a nation of Christians.  A Christian by definition is one belongs to and who follows Jesus.  Jesus is our Lord and Master.  We obey his commands and they are not burdensome to us. 

Christians don’t look to government for how to love our neighbor.  We look to the commands of our Lord.  If we truly follow Jesus, we will give far beyond the tithe and the poor need not be poor anymore.  And let’s not forget, we won’t just give out food and money.  We will bring people into the body of Christ where they will know true abundance that we know through inclusion. 

President Jimmy Carter has been a wonderful model of Christian service over these past three decades.  Let’s not discredit his good works by attaching faulty thinking to his picture.  Let’s be a nation of Christians first.  Being known as a Christian nation will follow.

Passion without contempt

I have indulged myself over the past few days by venturing into social and political discussions that I usually skip on by doing my best to keep my eyes fixed on Jesus—the Author and Finisher of my faith, but sometimes you just have to jump into the fray, especially when all dignity has been cast aside.

I don’t know if I have contributed to the productive discourse of our great but sometimes ever so fragile republic, or just entertained myself in a unique way as if I were smoking a Cuban cigar and enjoying a glass of Sangria from south of the border (pre-wall vintage).

I pray that we incline ourselves to more civil discourse.  Passion is wonderful.  Zeal must abound.  Debate is fantastic.  The synergy of diverse ideas produces the best results, but condemnation of our brothers and sisters and contempt for our leaders are forces directly from Satan.  They are the darkest side of our human nature.  Do not be deceived, hate and contempt are not effective communication tools.  The one who tells you that they are has your destruction in mind and is celebrating with your every vile word.

For those who do not claim Jesus as Lord, this likely is a meaningless appeal.  The command not to judge (condemn) others, the command to love each other, and the direction to not only respect those in authority but pray for them are only words in a book.  But for those who do claim to follow Jesus, these are standing orders.  We are not relieved of them because we don’t like who got elected, do or don’t like guns, or think the Constitution to be antiquated or immutable. 

If we can’t post and comment without condemnation of others,  or if we cannot bring ourselves to love each other as Christ loved us in our words and deeds, or if we can’t express our point being respectful of those in authority; then we need to log off, pray, study our Bibles, pray some more, practice loving one another in person, and do some inspection to determine how much lumber we need to extract from our own eyes, before we even think about logging back on to this media that begs us to bring acrimony and vitriol.

Decide this day whom you will serve.  Is it the gods of hate, vitriol, acrimony, ambivalence that abound online?  As for me and my house and our posts, we serve the Lord!

I Remember an America

I remember an America where we didn’t all agree,

But we stuck together, worked it out, and thanked God for liberty.

I remember there was once a nation that before it’s flag stood tall,

Not having to protest the whole of it when most was well with all.

I once knew a people of principle, who were not ashamed of God,

They were a light unto a darker world, where saints had not yet trod.

I once looked forward to the future desiring to leave a better world,

For our nation’s children and many others, who now burn the flag unfurled.

The days ahead once were brighter than they seem to be right now,

We have homes and food and water, but have lost the common law.

Not the law of politicians but the law which Christ commands,

That we love one another and not bring evil to our land.

Once we could disagree and be civil while we worked our problems out,

But now all comes with protest, hate, and all things good put into doubt.

Can we stop for just a moment, take a breath, and just behold,

The world of blessings in which we live, how can our hearts be so cold?

Because we disagree on methods or swing to the right or to the left,

Must we leave our once great nation so spiritually bereft?

We are not a godly nation when our own way must always prevail.

Until we seek the good of others, God’s law will not prevail.

We will continue on our present course though it leads us off the cliff,

Our children picking up the pieces of a nation now morally adrift.

We have outlasted most democracies, perhaps the republic is to thank,

But our days are so, so fleeting, we rode high before we sank.

It’s seems more important to be hateful and make our point,

When civility and love would be more productive, our ills they would anoint.

But the times have moved beyond what mortal man may cure,

I pray much more often now that our freedom will endure.

I remember an America where we didn’t all agree,

But we stuck together, worked it out, and thanked God for liberty.

With all of the shooting and cries for gun control, what is the church doing?

I was reading some posts about guns and violence and protests and all manner of things that belong to this world.  One post asked, “What is the institutional church doing about this?”

That caught my attention as the term “institutional church” is an oxymoron.  The church is an organism not an institution.  It is a living thing.  It is composed of followers of Jesus Christ.  It’s people. 

While many may think that I should be institutionalized (there is mounting evidence in support of this); I am not entangled in an institution.  The church reaches out into the world with love.  The church proclaims the truth when the world desires to blind you to it.  The church connects with people and invites them to inclusion in the fellowship of believers.

The church is not an exclusive club but an inclusive fellowship.  Have some churches gravitated to the institutional mode?  Yes.  They are making their own funeral arrangements.  The church is made for mission.  It is not an institution. 

The problem in our nation, and in other places but acutely in our own country, is that people say Jesus is their Savior but don’t want him as Lord.  “I’ll take that salvation but don’t want to have a Lord in my life.  That’s so retro.”

Many have left the church that meets faithfully, serves responsively, and grows in God’s grace continually.  They declare that they are doing their own thing.  God has prescribed family but some desire to be on the sidelines or just commentators of what the remnant are doing. 

So, if we answer the initial question, eliminating the word “institutional” we find that the church is going into the world with love and hope and calling people into fellowship—at least part of the church is.  The other part is parked securely on the sidelines and has taken upon itself to be the umpires and critics of those on the playing field.

The church that receives the Lordship of Jesus Christ responds with love.  That church is not oblivious to the violence in the world but offers a solution that does not wait on government.  The church calls all to love one another.  That is our command from our Lord.

So many continue to thrive on vitriol, but the church still offers peace.

So many still promote condemnation of those who don’t see things their way, but the church invites all to fellowship.

So many choose hate, but the church is still about love.

What’s the church doing?  It is following the command of Jesus to love one another.  We do it without apology for not jumping on the bandwagon of the week.  God’s love is forever.  Our ministry is for all.  We desire to connect with the lost and those who have just lost their way.  We pray that they will come and be included in a family of faith.  We long so much for them to know the fellowship of believers.

That’s what the church is doing, at least in this small part of the world.

The Christmas Spirit has Left the Building

The Christmas spirit has left the building.  Acrimony has returned to the online world.  People have returned to being divided and divisive.  The love of many has truly grown cold and it seems that we will only listen to what our itching ears want to hear. 

Can we as a nation no longer converse without bitterness?

Our greatest enemy is not ISIS.  It is our own selfishness and cold heartedness and short sightedness.  Where are the men and women who long to preserve the blessings of liberty not only for ourselves but our posterity?

As a pastor and a Christian, I knew this time was coming.  We have it in black and white.  As a Marine officer and an American, it breaks my heart to see us self destruct from our own selfishness. We would rather see this country crumble than give up insisting on our own way.

We must replace politicians with statesmen.

We must replace our vitriolic posts with conversations.

We must be Americans first while cherishing our ethnic roots.

We must respect our authorities while ensuring they are worthy of our respect.

For those of us who profess Christ as Lord and Savior, we must be a light unto the world.

We must be the salt of the earth—a chance for people to have a little taste of God’s goodness in their every encounter with us.

We must be the people who ignore the tactics of the world and choose to love one another over being right every time.

We must be the people ready to spring into action every time and every place where God’s Holy Spirit is being poured out in these last days.

The love of many has grown cold, but we are the few who live by the law of love.

God loved us first and still loves us.  Let us love one another.

Love one another.

Hump day?

We used to call this hump day.  Wednesday was the midpoint in the traditional work week.

Traditional work week, what’s that?  Touché.   Point taken.

These days, Wednesday is a day between Man Crush Monday and Throwback Thursday or MCM and TBT if you must.

It is also the day the Lord has made so we are glad and we rejoice in it.  For those of us on a mission from God—actually, commissioned by Jesus would be more precise—we are also on the lookout for people who have never truly heard the gospel for the first time.

We are tuned in to those who have heard and may have even accepted Jesus as their Savior but who just have not connected with a family of faith.  Inertia is a fact of life and it is tough to get a body at rest in motion, but we keep on keepin’ on in our efforts to lead people back into the Body of Christ.

Why?

We are on a MISSION FROM GOD!

Spread the gospel!

Connect the disconnected.

Love everyone in the family of faith like it was going out of style.

Hump day, not so much.

A day to proclaim the good news, connect the disconnected, and to love one another as much as Jesus loves us; you betcha, that is the day where we find ourselves.

Now, what are we going to do about it?

What do you mean, the ATM is broken?

Walking through that church door was tough.  I didn’t want to go but I was at the end of my rope.  I wasn't looking for God or Jesus.  I just needed some money.

I will spare you the reasons.  They are all things that you could just shake your head and say, “He should have known better.”

Yeah, I should have known better.

Well, I made it through the door.  The preacher man is just hanging up the phone.  Maybe he will have just a couple moments to open up the cash drawer and send me on my way.

That would be best.  In and out, just like the burger place.  But this dude didn’t get the memo.  He wants to talk.

He wants to talk.  Maybe I should try the church across the street.  It looks a little newer.  Maybe they have an ATM.  I just tell my story and the cash comes out, maybe it will be a debit card.

Well I have been sitting here for a few minutes; I just as well see what I have to do to get the money.

I have told him that I don’t fit in to any of the churches.  Can’t he get that through his thick skull?

Evidently not, he keeps telling me that my excuses don’t hold water.  He tells me that if I am following Jesus then I will abide in this word.  Preachers like that “abide” word so I call him on it.

He says we need to keep doing what God’s word tells us to do.  In this case to continue to gather together for worship and fellowship.

I tell him that I can be a Christian without coming to church.

He tells me something crazy like we are the church.  What’s up with this dude?  I need some money.

He goes on to say that I won’t be a very effective Christian if I don’t gather with other believers.

I tell him that he has his opinion and I have mine.

“You’re right,” he says.  He stands and reaches out to shake my hand.  I reach out.  He shakes it and opens the door to his office.

I say, “What about the money?”

“Money?”

I look at him like he is crazy.  Maybe he is.

“Oh, the money.  How silly of me.”

“Thank God,” I say.

“We thank God a lot around here and in fact everywhere we go we are always giving thanks.  God has given us so many blessings, and not just for us but enough so that we may bless others.”

Now this guy gets it.  I just used the wrong words.  “I am here for some of those blessings”

“No, you are here for some money.”

“That’s what I have been trying to say but you wanted to use the word blessings so I played the game.  This is getting old.  I have placed to go and things to do.”

“Need to get to work?”

“No.  No job.  That’s part of the reason that I am here.”

“Volunteering somewhere?”

“No.”

“Out looking for work?”

“No.”

“Ready to cut to the heart of the matter?”

“No, but I don’t think that is going to make a difference.”

“You’re right.  I am faithful to my Master and he has commanded me and equipped me to speak the truth in love.”

Here he goes again with more churchspeak.   If he starts singing Standing on the Promises then I am exiting the premises.

“The truth is that you came looking for the vending machine, the ATM if you will.”

“I thought only the fancy churches had those?”

“Unfortunately, most of us have had them for decades.”

“I don’t see them.”

“I unplugged ours and threw it away.”

“You what!”

“It was getting in the way of ministry.  You see people would just show up at the door.  They hand to think about it for a long time before they came in, but when they did the just wanted to get out of here as quickly as they could.”

“You’ve got that part right.”

“I know.  Not my first rodeo.”

“So why did you throw it away.  I need that money.  A lot of us need that money.”

“I threw it away because it got in the way of who we are.”

“What?”

“We are the church.  We are the Body of Christ.  We take God’s light and his love into the world.  We feed the hungry and take care of the needy and minister to the sick and those in prison.”

“That’s me.  I am needy for sure.”

“Yes, you are.  And we are going to help.”

“Thank you!  If I can just get $300, maybe $350 since the cash drawer is already open, then I will be on my way.”

“Oh, there isn’t going to be any cash dispersed today.”

“You said that you would help me.”

“I did and we will.”

“But not with any money…”

“Not right now anyway.  That is not what we are all about.  This is not a place to fill out a form and get a bill paid.  We pay bills for folks every once in a while, but that is not who we are.”

“Is the ATM at the church across the street working?”

“No.  We all sent them to the landfill.”

“Are all of you people nuts?”

“Nuts, no.  Fools, yes.”

“I knew it was something like that.”

“We are fools for Christ.  We follow Jesus and we don’t need to apply the same rules that the world does.  In fact, we had conformed to the patterns of this world and not even noticed.  That dog don’t hunt.”

“I am not sure that I follow but I think it means that I am not getting any money.”

“We do help with some things that are temporary like a water bill or an electric bill or some food, but we are about things eternal—mostly life.”

“You paying my ‘lectric bill or not?”

“Probably not, but we will see what transpires.”

“If there’s no money coming out then I’m not hanging around.”

“I won’t even pretend to be surprised.”

“How can you be this way?  Do you know how hard it was for me to come here?”

“I am this way because I know exactly how hard it was for you to come here today and I don’t want you to ever have to go through that again.”

“You throwing me out?”

“On the contrary.  I am inviting you in.”

“You say you are a fool for Christ, but I’m sticking with nuts.  You’re nuts, man.”

“Could be, but I can tell you that we would not be having this conversation if you were a part of this body of believers.  If this were your family, someone would have known that you were hurting long ago and given you some help.”

“Yeah, well they might have told me that I should give up drinking or smoking or pay-per-view movies.  I don’t like being judged.’

“If you did give up those things and had your utility bills paid in full now would you still consider that advice judgmental.”

“Well, when you put it that way…”

“That’s the way I’m putting it.”

“Yeah, OK, it might have been good advice.”

“We have a church term for that.”

“Surprise, surprise.  I sure was hoping that I could hear some more churchspeak.”

“See, you haven’t lost your sense of humor.”

“Right.”  What’s the term?”

“Speaking the truth in love.”

“Sounds a lot like sugar coated judging.”

“You’re right it sounds like it, but it is different.”

“How?”

“The condition of the heart.  The person who speaks the truth in love truly desires the best for you.  They want you to have a life as rich as their own.”

“And you think that paying my bill will shortchange this process.”

“No.  I am certain that it will.  Sometimes we pay a bill or two or three based purely on mercy and compassion.  Sometimes a family is so down and out that they need some physical help before they can lift their heads high enough to hear the truth.”

“But you don’t think I am in the same boat?”

“Not even close and if you will have a moment of self examination, you will concur.  You are at the point of temporary discomfort, not desperation.  We have the time and the means to work on the root causes of your problems.”

“That’s not why I came here.”

“I know.”

“I am probably just going to leave and tell everyone that you don’t help anyone, that the church doesn’t help anyone.”

“I know.  Like I said…”

“Not your first rodeo.”

“If you needed to buy new tires for your car would you go to the bakery?”

“No.  Is that where you go?”

“Only for bread.  If you needed a plumber would you call a tax attorney?”

“Dude, you are losing me here.”

“Not making any sense?”

“None at all.”

“Good, because those would be nonsensical things to do.”

“Finally, we agree on something—nonsense.”

“But you come to the church with an electric bill?  If you were to call the electric company and ask who pays most of the electric bills in this country, they would say…”

“The people or companies who use the electricity.”

“But you come to this church with an electric bill?”

“Obviously, here I sit.”

“Have you thought about coming here to worship God or to help others or to learn more about God.”

“I’m not much for church.”

“Yet, here you sit.  You won’t come and be a part of the things that the people of the church are called to do but you ask for help in things they are not called to do—is that it?”

“When you put it that way, it sounds sort of ridiculous.  Maybe, I should not have come in today.”

“That is what is ridiculous.  You are exactly where you need to be.”

“I need my ‘lectric bill paid!”

“Six months or a year from now, how important will it be that your bill got paid today or tomorrow or even this month?”

“It is important to me now.  I know that.”

“So it is.  What I am asking you to consider is how important is your relationship with God and his people right now?”

“That can wait.”

“And so we come the crux of the matter.  You want what you want from a place created to give you something else.”

“If you say so.  Yeah, I want what I want.”

“Who will be faithful to their purpose?”

“I heard that you do sometimes pay people’s bills.”

“You heard correctly.”

“So?”

“For me to help with your bill and leave you disconnected from the Body of Christ is to help you remain disconnected from the one place where you most need to be.”

“So, I am not getting any money?”

“You have heard the old saying ‘Give a man a fish and feed him for a day.  Teach a man to fish and feed him for a lifetime?’”

“Yes, but I don’t like fish that much.”

“Same thinking regardless of taste, except that we are talking about life right now and life without end.  Don’t you think it is time to get your life on the course God has set for you?”

“It may be time, but all I care about is getting this bill paid.”

“God cares for you more than your care about that bill.”

“If you say so.”

“I do.”

“Does he care enough to get me some help?”

“Absolutely!  Let’s start getting you connected to some of the people in the congregation.”

“But what about my money?”

“We don’t have an ATM.  We are the church.”

“Why am I still hanging around here?”

“Because you came to the exact place you need to be.  God wants you following Jesus again.  He wants you to worship him, serve him, and learn more about him and his fantastic love in the company of other believers.  That’s our starting point.”

“Well, thanks, but no thanks or thanks for nothing might be more accurate.”

“You know that Jesus once had an encounter with a rich young ruler who said he followed the Law of Moses his whole life.  He asked Jesus what he needed to do to be complete.”

“Jesus told him to sell everything he had and give the proceeds to the poor and then to come and follow Jesus.”

“What happened?”

“I’m not sure.  The man went away sad because he had a lot of stuff, and evidently loved his stuff a lot as well.”

“What do you mean you are not sure?  How can you start a story like that and not give folks the ending?”

“It is not the ending that has the lesson.  Before Jesus told this man to sell everything, the Bible says that Jesus loved him.”

“Jesus loved him?  He told the man to sell all his stuff and give the money away.  How is this love?”

“The man was imprisoned by his stuff.  It owned him.  He couldn’t walk away from it.  Jesus gave him instructions that would set him free but it wasn’t what he wanted to hear.”

“Is that what you call ‘tough love’?”

“No.  That is just love.  It is genuine love.  It is love that cuts to the core of a person’s being.”

“I can think of other words for it.”

“Jesus told the man what he needed to do to be complete—perfect if you will.  The man cared more for his possessions than he did for living God’s way.”

“So the man went away sad.  Well, guess what?”

“So are you?”

“And a little angry.  You guys need to fix the vending machine.”

“Not going to happen.”

So I am outta here.”

“You are invited to stay and get to know this family.  These are people who have been through lean times as well as lucrative times but have followed the Lord every day.  They know what you are going through.  They won’t judge you.  They will help you.”

“No thanks.”

“Very well.”

“Don’t you have to say, ‘God bless you’ or something like that?”

“I could if I wanted, but my prayer is that you hit rock bottom sooner than later so you can shake off this blindness and we can get you living God’s way.”

“Preachers can’t say that!”

“I see.  Tell me more.”

“Preachers have to tell you nice stuff like ‘Have a nice day’ and that sort of stuff.

“OK.  Have a nice day.  Did that help?”

“No.  I don’t think you meant it.”

“I didn’t.  I hope your day gets worse and your vision gets better.  I hope that you have eyes to see how much God loves you and that he has provided a family for you.  It is a family based in love and truth and encouragement, and discipline, and learning, where you can learn to follow Jesus.”

“Whatever.”

“It is a family where you will be at home because you will be among your brothers and sisters in Christ.”

“Don’t you get it.  I don’t deserve to be in that family.”

“You are right about that.”

“Now you are just being mean.”

“No, I am making a real connection with you.”

“What connection?  You are telling me that I don’t deserve to be a part of the family that you have spent so much effort inviting me into.”

“Yes, you do not deserve the joy of being in this family just as I did not deserve it either.  God loved us when we did not love him.  The entire human race had rebelled against God but instead of destroying us, he saved us.  He made a way for us to live in right relationship with him when we had done nothing to deserve it.”

“You are talking about the blood of Jesus.”

“Exactly.”

“I remember how that moved me a long time ago, but here I am today struggling just to keep the lights on.”

“Isn’t that crazy?”

“That’s what I have been trying to say.  I need some help.  I need some money.”

“And God has been asking you why you keep trying to live your life on your terms instead of his?  Why are you disconnected from the family of faith?”

“This isn’t why I came here.”

“Did you ever stop to think that you came here when the Vending Machine was broken and discarded because God wanted you to have this conversation?”

“Maybe, but that doesn’t mean I like this one little bit.”

“We do love.  Like is sometimes not included in the sticker price.”

“Tell me about it.”

“That is exactly what I would love to do.  How about I call some folks from the church and you get to know each other?”